Greetings from La Costa SHM - Repeat for Newbies
posted on
Jun 24, 2006 07:24PM
Great turnout, approximately 250-300 people attended the SHM…SRO!!., a big improvement from the 50-75 in 2001-03. It was a great personal pleasure to meet so many posters – Larscot, Guyver, Marc, Kelmacster, Ronran, BigDC, JB in FL, Brian, and the beautiful, incandescent Abbebabe. Meeting went from 10:20 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Setting was great, overlooking the golf course. This place is huge. I could spend a week here easily. Lol!!.. Weather cool & overcast Oh well.. There were plenty of Suits there and I suspect more than 1 MM. Crowd was in a festive and attentive mood to begin the festivities. Pohl was very impressive. Am very comfortable with him as the Captain. He knows his stuff as he should being CEO. Dave is an excellent public speaker and communicates his thoughts and ideas well and is very knowledgeable with a passion for excellence. Gloria Felcyn, Johnson (Swartz Rep), Helmut Falk Jr., and Jim Turley shared the podium.
Pohl said effectively PTSC outsourced the patent portfolio to TPL and would explore the feasibility of outsourcing the Ignite and Charging Device in a joint venture. Why? I believe to leverage Risk and take advantage of other more experienced larger firms developing and marketing these items better than PTSC. I directly asked Pohl about the lack of SW tools for the Ignite, who indicated the above.
Pohl also said he was looking at more dividends in the future which brought approving murmurs from the crowd. AMEX & NASDAQ were the ultimate goal but gave no timetable. How could he? Said stock is undervalued.. Duh!
Eric Swartz & Mike Kendrick were next up. They said, “TPL is a world class operation which bodes well for the future and that Swartz is a long term investor”. Also, mentioned was that 95% of the firms they had invested in ultimately failed, but that PTSC had “broken out”. They mentioned Wal-Mart example, and half the people nearly fainted!!...lol. They also said “Thousands of companies could be targeted. PTSC is at the beginning of where it should go. We should expect a lot of action and expect volatility, PTSC is on target and future is very bright.” – Direct quotes.
Jim Turley – Self proclaimed Professional Nerd was next. He was a crackup. Humorous, knowledgeable.
Jim repeated previous info regarding INTC has 95% of PC based processors and 2% of total world share. He said there are 105 MP in a Mercedes, 115 in a 750i BMW, and 40-50 in a typical house. His angle on the lack of success of the Ignite was multi-dimensional. He noted PTSC’s lack of brand reputation, vendor trust, no intangibles, no marketing, no software development tools. The last of which I repeated to Pohl above. Jim indicated in the marketplace, “ Surrounding items are being increasingly looked at outside of the MP not as much inside anymore. Curious.
Dan Leckrone, TPL Head, spoke next. Tight lipped, imperious, looked uncomfortable with a lectern, “Why am I here?” attitude. Said little, I remembered even less.
Matt Leckrone (Son) - Mr. Excitement. Bland. This guy scares me. Sure-fire cure for insomnia then took over. Droned over a PowerPoint presentation, which provided greater detail of the PTL org structure and how they interrelate. TPL Mission statement – Global, intellectual property development and management enterprise. Alliancense – 15 people, executes all Group licensing programs. Core competency is licensing. Intellasys – 30 people. Core competency is microprocessor technology, developing a revolutionary array processor and related applications.
Q & A
1) Reporting of revenues consolidated negotiated vs. $ received. What is the “Spread”? Gloria (CPA) said there was no way to tell the spread and that it varies deal to deal.
2) Is PTSC receiving royalties and what happened to Sony? Pohl said No royalties so far. All deals are one-time deals. A strategic decision, PTSC would be better off if Sony was not a defendant.
3) TPL prefers no royalties and prefers licensing. “Royalties are not in our business model. We have no infrastructure to support this activity”. Direct quote from Dan Leckrone. Collective groan from the audience.
4) Ronran to Matt Leckrone who just returned on the red-eye the night before from Japan - “What went on in Japan/” Answer by Matt, “No particular significance”.
5) Patent dollars paid so far are very little, “Are they just nuisance $$ paid?”, “Why are we not getting paid more $$?” Answer –
a) New licensing program
b) Case took longer to litigate
c) Risk
d) Take measured steps
e) Early signees get the discount
6) How many firms in the target range? Which specific firms targeted in 2006 – 07? Pohl said well over 150 have been put on notice, then said hundreds. “More in communication now”. For targeted firms, Pohl said, “Good companies have attributes. Are willing to license, build products that are accessible, and that we are targeting market sectors.” Jokingly, Pohl said, “Targets are candidates for licensing”.
7) Is strategic goal to win in Texas or settle out-of-court? Answer No comment.
8) Discounts for early signees. When does the discount end? Answer No comment.
9) Are we threatening line-stop conditions? Shut them down? Answer – INTC want to change the laws to escape. Leckrone said the threat of injunction is out there. The “Spectre” to use his words.
10) Recurring revenues? – Pohl said, “Board Mantra is Get it”.
11) Will we share revenue with Intellasys? Answer “No, not now. Can there be conflict? Conflict No, overlap Yes.
12) What % of the 150 will enter into licensing and over what timeframe? Pohl said we have until 2015, - “The percentage is too tough to estimate. Look at the Quality of the current licensees so far”
13) Probability of selling Ignite? Answer “We must improve the ecosystem around Ignite”.
That’s about it. Personally, I didn’t expect much at the SHM and was not disappointed. PTSC is powerless and beholden to TPL and TPL knows it. What’s driving TPL? Greed and monies to fund their Moore chip and other operations. These guys are very good. Can’t argue with the results so far. Ignite is on the back burner. Turley job to open doors and work with Pohl to outsource development and marketing. We desperately need another revenue stream. More dividends too come. Expect volatility. Share price will drop without a new license near-term IMHO.
Virt